Mindful Grounding for Anxiety/Trauma
This audio provides assistance when you are overwhelmed with anxiety and can't focus on relaxation especially if you are
experiencing depersonalization or derealization (you or
your surroundings don't feel real).
The grounding technique can be particularly helpful when someone has
anxiety due to trauma which is causing flashbacks to the memory of the trauma. It has you focus on your immediate surroundings to help focus
away from the traumatic memory.
This type of audio is not for the purpose of relaxation but to help you feel more focused so that you can use other techniques.
Once you have used the mindful grounding
technique and can focus a bit more, it is a good idea to use the relaxation audios to help calm yourself further.
It is best to
listen to this audio for the first time when you don't need it so that you will have an idea of what to expect. In addition, developing
an understanding of mindfulness can help with this practice:
Understanding Mindfulness.
TRANSCRIPT
Learning to Tolerate Anxiety
This educational audio helps you to understand the concept of tolerating anxiety and why it is important. The fear of the anxiety and the
demand to get rid of it makes the anxiety worse. The more you learn to tolerate anxiety, the less intense and frequent it will be.
Developing mindfulness skills increases the ability to tolerate anxiety because mindfulness focuses on the immediate present not on the catastrophic worries about the future. The more that you focus on the "what ifs" regarding anxiety, the more likely your anxiety will be triggered. However, the more you can can understand and accept the anxiety, the less insistent it becomes.
TRANSCRIPT
Mindful Breathing
This audio is a quick three minute stress management technique that coaches you through mindful breathing.
Mindfulness is a state of mind in which you focus completely on your most immediate experience. In this
exercise, the focus is on the full experience of your breathing.
When doing any mindful exercise, it is important to very gently bring your focus back to your experience if
distracting thoughts occur. Do not try to get rid of the thoughts because that interferes with mindfulness.
Instead, just gently refocus back to the exercise.
Once you have learned this technique, you can use it to help with sleep when you are having trouble quieting
your mind. Focus on the mindful breathing. Whenever any thoughts occur, gently bring your focus back to
your breath. You may have to do this a number of times before your mind quiets. Once you are fully focused on
your each breath, you are more likely to drift naturally off to sleep.